Tagged: San Francisco Stompers

NPSL Match Predictions 5/3

Credit: Rhode Island Reds FC

Brooklyn Italians @ Rhode Island Reds FC (NE Atlantic Flight): The storied Brooklyn Italians will travel north to Providence to open the season against sophomore club Rhode Island Reds FC. Brooklyn is a flight contender every year, and there is no reason to think this season will be any different. Rhode Island finished respectably in the middle of the table for their first season and saw twin brothers Paulo and Pedro Mendes sign contracts with the Atlanta Silverbacks of NASL - with Pedro even being named NASL Player of the Week after a 2 goal performance led the Silverbacks to a victory over the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers. The Reds lost a US Open Cup qualifying match to Mass Premier Soccer Men’s Open team 1-0 earlier this year. Without many pre-season results to draw from, I predict Brooklyn wins 2-1.

Miami United SC @ Cape Coral Hurricanes (S Sunshine Flight): Miami United will travel to Cape Coral for the 3rd leg of the Everglades Cup and the opening match of  Sunshine Flight play. After a blowout in the first leg Cape Coral managed a well played draw last weekend in the 2nd leg with a boost from signings just heading home from college. It’s always tough to play the same team so many times, and I give a slight edge to Miami as the home side - Miami 2-1, though I wouldn’t be surprised if that scoreline ended the other way around.

Las Vegas Stallions @ Orange County Pateadores (W Southern Flight): A languishing Stallions side will travel to Orange County to face a superior foe in Pateadores. The best Las Vegas can hope for is to garnish a point from a draw, but if past scorelines are any indication this match is tilted heavily in favor of the Pats. OC Pateadores win by a wide margin, 5-0.

FC Santa Clarita Storm @ San Diego Boca (W Southern Flight): Santa Clarita will look to continue their winning ways with a fourth in a row since a season opening loss to OC Pateadores. San Diego Boca has no wins and only 1 point so far from a tie with the Las Vegas Stallions. Santa Clarita wins 3-2.

Sonoma County Sol @ Sacramento Gold (W Northern Flight): Sonoma County will travel to Sacramento for a match with serious implications for the flight title race. These teams have traded wallopings this season, and there is a good chance this match could be another entertaining and high scoring affair. I think the Gold edge this one, 3-2.

CD Aguiluchos USA @ Real San Jose (W Northern Flight): After a great start, Real San Jose has had some unfortunate luck and finds themselves in a must win situation if they want to make a flight title run. Aguiluchos continue to struggle, scoring only 5 goals so far this season. The teams have met once already this season with San Jose winning 2-0. I expect a similar result for this match.

Georgia Revolution @ Colorado Rovers (USSSA): Georgia will travel to Denver to face the Colorado Rovers of the USSSA in a US Open Cup play-in game. The travel and altitude will certainly be factors in this match, but the Revolution proved last year they could hang with tough competition after a close 1-0 loss to NASL club Atlanta Silverbacks.

San Francisco Stompers v San Ramon Soccer: San Francisco has a bye week in NPSL play but will play a friendly against San Ramon Soccer. San Francisco is winless in league play, and a win in this friendly could be the confidence booster the club needs to take the next step.

Regals SCA v Houston Dutch Lions (PDL): The Houston Dutch Lions played the Houston Hurricanes to a 1-1 draw last week, and this week will take on Regals SCA in a friendly.

Weekend in Review 4/28

San Diego Boca 0 @  OC Pateadores 8 (Southern Flight): Boca  suffered a humiliating 8-0 route at the hands of Pateadores, and their woes continued off field as it is reported that Yan Skwara has stepped aside as President leaving head coach Karim Ben Mazuk with additional responsibilities. Scoring opened in the twenty-second minute and continued throughout the match as Pateadores narrowed the goal differential previously separating the from FC Hasental at the top of the table. With the victory and the weekend loss by Hasental, OC Pateadores take sole possession of first place in the flight while Boca maintain their place at the bottom along side the Las Vegas Stallions.

Sacramento Gold 3 @ San Francisco Stompers 1 (Norther Flight): For the first forty-two minutes things were going well for the Stomper’s home opener at Boxer Stadium. One minute later Sacramento were awarded a penalty, but San Francisco’s David Varela stepped up and made the save to keep things scoreless entering the break. Entering the second half San Francisco seemed unable to regroup and quickly conceded the first goal in the forty-eighth. The Stompers responded with a goal of their own ten minutes later to level at one all. The game appeared to be headed for a draw when San Francisco’s Liam Whelan was sent off in the ninety-first leaving the Stompers to finish out the match with ten men. Sacramento pressed their man advantage and managed two goals in stoppage time to secure the victory. Much better showing by San Francisco this week, but they have to secure that point with only minutes left in the game. The three points puts Sacramento in good stead heading into a bye week, but they should not feel content at how they got them. For a more in depth match report check out SoccerNation.com.

FC Santa Clarita Storm

FC Hasental 1 @ FC Santa Clarita Storm 2 (Southern Flight): Santa Clarita continues to surprise and this week downs FC Hasental to jump into second place in the Southern Flight only one point behind undefeated OC Pateadores. The Storm notched the first goal in fourteenth minute taking advantage of Hasental’s poor defending. They started the second half the same way and made it 2-0 in the forty-seventh. It looked as though Santa Clarita might shut out the prolific Hasental offense, but a bad challenge in the box awarded Hasental the penalty which was easily converted. This is an important victory for Santa Clarita as they try and gain some separation from the rest of the flight, and it highlights the defensive cracks Hasental has shown - and will need to fix if they want to seriously challenge Pateadores.

San Diego Flash 5 @ Las Vegas Stallions 0 (Southern Flight): The spark finally came in the twenty-seventh minute and the Flash offense exploded with three goals in four minutes to go up 3-0 before halftime. The Flash continued to dominate possession and added two more in the fiftieth and seventy-second minutes to put the game out of reach. The Flash remain in fourth place in the flight, but the win brings them within one point of third place Hasental. Las Vegas continued to struggle and remain at the bottom of the table.

CD Aguiluchos USA 1 @ Sonoma County Sol 3: Aguiluchos scored first in the seventeenth, but conceded a penalty a minute later to hand the equalizer to the Sol. With the momentum from the goal Sonoma County tallied another less than two minutes later to go ahead 2-1. The nail in the coffin came in the sixty-seventh on a through ball to Tyler Hurst who blasted a shot into the roof of the goal. With the win Sonoma County lead the Northern Flight with ten points. Sacramento Gold are second (9) followed by Real San Jose (7), CD Aguiluchos USA (3) and San Francisco Stompers (0).

Miami United 2 @ Cape Coral Hurricanes 2: In Sunshine Flight action Miami United traveled to Cape Coral to take on the Hurricanes for the second leg of the Everglades Cup. The first leg saw Miami score almost at will and take the match 6-0. This time, the Hurricanes were ready and scored just ten minutes in to take the lead 1-0. Cape Coral added a second just eleven minutes later in the twenty-first to go up 2-0. Miami continued to pressure and scored with thirty seconds left in the first half to bring the score to 2-1 heading into halftime. Cape Coral stayed strong most of the second half but again gave up a critical goal in stoppage time to end the match in a 2-2 draw. Miami United leads the 4 leg Everglade Cup series 4 points to Cape Coral’s 1.

Junior Lone Star v Hosa FC: Junior Lone Star FC traveled to North Carolina for a two match series against Hosa FC. Lone Star continued a solid pre-season performance posting a 2-0 win in the first leg and a 2-1 win in the second leg.

OK City FC (PDL) v LFC Warriors: The Liverpool Warriors faced Oklahoma City FC of the PDL in a pre-season tune up match. It was a high scoring affair for both sides and ended in 4-4 draw.

NPSL Match Predictions

Alongside of the weekly ‘Weekend in Review’ column posted on Mondays, I am adding a weekly match prediction column to be posted each Friday ahead of the weekend games.

Sacramento Gold @ San Francisco Stompers (Northern Flight): After three consecutive road losses the Stompers will host the Gold in their home opener at Boxer Stadium. The Stompers have struggled at both ends of the pitch this season, scoring only three goals while allowing twelve. Last weeks two goal performance against Sonoma County Sol was a marked improvement, and if they can repeat it - without the giving up the soft goals - they stand a chance of at least drawing a strong Sacramento side that is coming off of back to back wins against table leader Real San Jose and league newcomer CD Aguiluchos USA. My prediction for this match is a 3-0 win for Sacramento.

FC Hasental @ FC Santa Clarita (Southern Flight): Santa Clarita enters the game with momentum from a quality road victory over the San Diego Flash last week that puts them within one point of table leaders Hasental and OC Pateadores. Hasental and Pateadores played to a grueling 2-2 draw last weekend that saw Pateadores score the go ahead goal late into the second half while playing down man only to have Hasental equalize in stoppage time. Neither has defense has been spectacular over the first three games, though both have been sufficient. I anticipate another high scoreline with FC Hasental winning 4-2.

San Diego Flash @ Las Vegas Stallions (Southern Flight): San Diego will be looking to climb the table with a victory over the winless Stallions, who will be looking to build on the point gleaned from a 0-0 draw against San Diego Boca last week. The Flash have so far under performed this season after losing several key players from last years squad, but I expect they will handle Las Vegas without too many problems. Final score 2-0.

CD Aguiluchos USA @ Sonoma County Sol (Northern Flight): The enigmatic and unpredictable Aguiluchos travel to Sonoma County to take on a strong Sol side. Aguiluchos have struggled to score with all four of their goals coming in the lone victory over San Francisco - a trend I expect to continue against the Sol. Always strong at home, I predict a 3-1 win for the Sol.

San Diego Boca FC @ OC Pateadores: OC Pateadores has made the most of a re-branding effort and undefeated after three regular season matches. Boca are at the other end of the spectrum, winless still after a 0-0 draw with Las Vegas. The Pateadores defense has been stifling, and they nearly emerged with a victory last week over the highly touted FC Hasental offense - playing a portion of the match with only 10 men. San Diego will struggle to penetrate Pateadores defense, I predict a 2-0 win for the Pats.

Miami United @ Cape Coral Hurricanes (Sunshine Flight): This will be the second leg of the Everglades Cup as well as the final match of the pre-season for these two clubs. The first leg saw Miami cruise to a 6-0 shutout over Cape Coral. Miami may very well be the most underestimated side in the NPSL this season as they have quietly assembled a professional squad. I anticipate this leg will yield a similar result, as Cape Coral have struggled to score all against  NPSL competition having also been defeated by a 2-0 margin by the Tampa Marauders on two occasions this pre-season. Prediction: 5-0 in favor of Miami United.

Junior Lone Star FC @ Hosa FC (Non-league pre-season friendly): Junior Lone Star continue their full pre-season line up by travelling to North Carolina for a 2 game series against Hosa FC. Lone Star have posted some good results so far this pre-season and will hope to solidify a starting 11 this weekend.

NPSL Weekend in Review 4/21

Regular season action continued in the West Regions while several South and Northeast Region clubs continue to finalize rosters and hold pre-season friendlies in anticipation of their May start.

The Sunshine Flight (South Region) saw the second leg of the Gulf Coast Cup as hosts Tampa Marauders defeated the Cape Coral Hurricanes by the same 2 - 0 margin as the first leg. Cape Coral has now been held scoreless in three consecutive matches versus NPSL opponents (vs. Tampa 2-0, 2-0, and vs. Miami United 6-0).

Tampa Marauders vs. Cape Coral Hurricanes [photo credit: Cape Coral Hurricanes]

 

The West Region slate was full and the action intense as every match ended with only a goal difference or less. In the Southern Flight the Santa Clarita Storm soured the home opener of San Diego Flash and leapfrogged them in the standings to claim sole possession of third place. The West region also saw a battle of the undefeated as FC Hasental hosted OC Pateadores in a thrilling 2 - 2 draw. OC Pateadores proved their mettle by going ahead 2 - 1 late in the game and playing with only 10 men, but the high octane Hasental offense wasn’t to be held to one goal and scored the equalizer deep into stoppage time to salvage the draw. The teams remain tied atop the Flight, though Hasental leads in goal differential by a significant margin. At the other end of the table the Las Vegas Stallions notched their first league point holding visitors San Diego Boca FC to a scoreless draw. After a blowout in their opening match the Stallions have have progressively improved, though the point is also the first for a SD Boca side that has a long way to go to live up to pre-season expectations.

In the Northern Flight (Golden Gate Conference) table leaders Real San Jose suffered their first loss away at Sacramento Gold in a hotly contested match which is being protested by Real San Jose. Blood was drawn after a reckless Sacramento challenge only minutes into the match, which set the stage for the rest of the game. With the win, Sacramento creeps into third place only one point behind Real San Jose and Sonoma County with a game in hand over San Jose. Rounding out the Golden Gate action the Sonoma County Sol hosted the San Francisco Stompers. Having been outscored in their first two matches 9-1, San Francisco had significant work to do on both ends of the field to come away with a victory. The Stompers did well until the 44th minute when Sonoma tallied their first to take a 1 - 0 lead into halftime. San Francisco returned from the break and equalized early in the 50th minute only to to give up an own goal and a penalty kick within the next five minutes to give Sonoma a 3-1 lead. San Francisco kept pressing and pulled one goal back in the 82nd, but couldn’t get any closer as the match finished with a final score of San Francisco 2 Sonoma County 3.

Back on the East Coast, Junior Lone Star FC played friendlies away at Mid-Atlantic expansion club Chesterfield United and to aspiring NPSL club Electric City in Scranton, PA. Junior Lone Star scored the only goal of the match vs. Chesterfield in the 15th minute and held off several quality attacks and a penalty kick to seal the victory 1 - 0. The match versus Electric City proved a bit more exciting with a flurry of second half action. Lone Star took the lead just before the break in the 44th minute. Electric City came back from half time and equalized, only to go down again after another Lone Star goal. JLSFC’s lead was short lived however as Electric City capitalized on a poorly handled back pass to make it a 2 - 2 game. Lone Star was finished, and scored the final goal of the match in the 85th minute to clinch the game 3 - 2.

Junior Lone Star returns to pre-season action next weekend with a pair of friendlies against Hosa FC before they travel to Greater Binghamton FC on May 11th for their season opener.

In other news around the league:

NPSL Week in Review

Weekend scores from around the league:

  • Tampa Marauders bounced back from a 2 - 4 loss to Warner University by defeating the University of Tampa 2 - 1.
  • Junior Lone Star FC played to a thrilling 3 - 3 draw against Debamu FC in a pre-season friendly match that saw two stoppage time goals.
  • Real San Jose stays atop the Northern Flight of the West Region with a 2 - 2 draw against Sonoma County Sol. Both teams remain undefeated, and Sonoma has a game in hand.
  • Orange County Pateadores continues to impress with a 2 - 0 victory over the San Diego Flash in what is being billed as game one of the Freeway Series. Pateadores is currently tied for 1st with FC Hasental in the Southern Flight of the West Region.
  • Reports are in and the word on the street is that Miami United has managed to sign a number of ex-professionals to their squad. Miami United reportedly dispatched the Cape Coral Hurricanes by a final score of 6 - 0 in the first leg of the Everglades Cup.
  • Santa Clarita Storm outgunned the Las Vegas Stallions 5 - 4 in a goal fest. Coming off of an embarrassing double digit loss, Las Vegas put in a respectable showing despite another loss.
  • San Francisco Stompers 0 - 4 CD Aguiluchos USA: Aguiluchos crammed all four goals into the first half of play to notch their first win of the season against San Francisco. San Francisco will need to make some adjustments in order to avoid finishing bottom of the table for another season.
  • FC Hasental continued an undefeated streak started during Open Cup qualifying with a 5 - 4 win over San Diego Boca FC. The win keeps FC Hasental tied for first with OC Pateadores in the Southern Flight of the West Region, though Hasental currently holds the tie-breaker on goal differential.

Other news/updates:

  • Electric City FC add home match vs. Junior Lone Star FC for summer program
  • The NPSL has renamed its ‘divisions’ as ‘flights’. This is a much welcomed change that will hopefully clarify some of the past confusion over what constitutes regions/divisions/conferences. Thus a team will play in a flight which is in turn a part of a region (for example, the Sunshine Flight is a part of the South Region).
  • Armando Gaitan of FC Hasental has received the NPSL Player of the Week award for the week ending April 7th.

NPSL West Region - Golden Gate Conference Preview

The Northern Division (nicknamed the Golden Gate Conference) of the NPSL West Region started regular season play this weekend after several weeks of US Open Cup Qualifying. While making pre and early season predictions is often nothing better than rolling dice, here is a brief look at each club and where we might expect them to finish based on last years results and the first few matches played this year.

1. Sonoma County Sol: 2012 PR = 1.605, 2013 PR (to date) = 1.221

Having finished on *top (actually second behind Bay Area Ambassadors - see note below) of the division last season with an outstanding +12 goal differential over 6 games gives the Sol the nod for my division pre-season #1. So far the Sol have started out OK, avenging a 1-5 Open Cup qualifying loss to Sacramento with a 4-1 victory to open the regular season this weekend. Right now the gap between the top two in the division is too close to call, leaning in favor of the Sol based on last seasons merits. But based on the early season results so far Sonoma had better find some consistency if they want to take home the division title.

2. Sacramento Gold: 2012 PR = .978, 2013 PR (to date) = 1.437

With the exception of the loss to Sonoma County, Sacramento has started the season strong. Unfortunately, if they want to challenge Sonoma for the title they will have to find a way to repeat their Open Cup heroics during the regular season. This Sacramento team is much improved over last season and they have pieces in place to challenge Sonoma for the title. If Sacramento can forget the last game and get back to pre-season form I wouldn’t hesitate to give them the #1 ranking.

3. Real San Jose: 2012 PR = .866, 2013 PR (to date) = 1.0o0

Real San Jose finished 2012 nipping at the heals of Sacramento. They finished with 1 less loss than the Gold but also managed only 1 win (to Sacramento’s 2). The three draws showed they are a scrappy team, but the power rankings punish draws as much as reward them. Aside from a 0-2 Open Cup qualifying loss to Sacramento, San Jose claimed a 2-0 victory over league newcomers CD Aguiluchos USA. Real San Jose seems to have returned a scrappy team this season, and if they can find a few more goals and turn a couple draws into victories, I think they could compete for the division title.

4. San Francisco Stompers: 2012 PR = .483, 2013 PR (to date) = .285

San Francisco finished *bottom of the division table (actually 5th of out 6 teams, see note below) last season mostly due to the fact that they only managed to score 3 times over the course of the season while allowing 17 goals over the same 6 game span. The good news is that they scored 2 goals in their only match so far this season. The bad news is that the defense allowed 5 in that same match. The Stompers will need to find a way to plug the holes on defense if they want to have any chance of finishing in the top 3.

5. CD Aguiluchos USA: 2012 PR = N/A, 2013 PR (to date) = 0.001

CD Aguiluchos has made a bit of noise leading up to the start of the season for an experiment that is reminiscent of MLS club Chivas USA. It may be too early to fairly place them at the bottom of the table, but they have been held scoreless in two matches so far this season. Until we see something more from them, I have to place Aguiluchos at the bottom.

*NOTE: It should be noted that both the North Coast Tsunami and the Bay Area Ambassadors participated in the division for the 2012 season and finished 6th and 1st respectively. However because both teams are not fielding an NPSL team for the 2013 season I have ignored them in the above analysis.